Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Ah, yes. Pure bliss. Something everyman wantsneeds in their garage. The all-mighty: MAN-FRIDGE. Since I've reorganized my garage with the addition of a garage attic access ladder, I've had the chance to open up the garage for my workbench, stereo, tv and now the all-mighty beverage cooler (aka refridgerator)

I picked this up this fridge made by Danby dirt cheap at one of the local ApplianceSmart warehouses. This 11.1 cubic foot of cold-keeping contraption is the perfect man-accessory. For just a few hundred bucks, you could add one too!

Monday, November 26, 2007

So I posted last week that I got a new Zune. Even though I have that I have not given up on my iPod. Even as old as it is, this 3rd Gen iPod is still sorthy of hanging onto. After the hard drive started making a loud clicking noise and would not read/boot into the menu, I quickly researched on some things to try.

After disconnecting the hard drive, re-seating it, slapping it a few times, I had given up. Working with computers as long as I have, I know the sound meant something bad. In my research I discovered getting a replacement drive is actually pretty cheap. I found a reputable place (www.santechusa.com)to purchase one from and ordered it up. $40 and a week later my iPod is a good as new! It even has a slightly bigger drive that it had before!

Not bad for an iPod I never paid for to begin with! (I got the iPod unknowingly when I purchased a 2004 Jetta TDI a few years back)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I haven't 'reported' it yet but just a few days after I replaced my iPod battery, the hard drive croaked. It started making the dreaded 'clicking' noises. I did try a few tricks like disconnecting the hard drive from the motherboard, shaking and slapping it a few times but it was lost cause. Needless to say, I did order a replacement hard drive for $40 new online and will get that back up and running, but in the interim I am glad I took advantage of the 30Gb Brown Zune that Buy.com had on their website.

I actually ordered it about a month ago but they were backordered so I just got the delivery yesterday. This Zune was an amazing $99! Normal retail is about $150 or so. Why was this so cheap? From all the podcasts and tech blogs I've been reading its simply because of the color; yeah, color. Anyway, I got this baby unboxed and setup within 20 minutes on my system. What's the difference between this and my old iPod? Weel, unlike my old 3rd Generation iPod, this baby has wireless (for sending and receiving files between friends), video playback (for playing whatever video content you can send to it; I'll get to that in a bit), photo viewer, podcasts compliant as well as the capability of playing your normal music files.

The main reason I got this (aside from the price) was the fact that I'll be able to transfer video to this. I figured the little ones can use it in the car on long trips as well as I can break it in on my upcoming trip to Jamaica. I did some research/Googling on this and found a few ways to rip and transfer video files to this device. I'll soon have this thing loaded with movies as well as TV episodes that I've downloaded.

Battery life is supposed to be better than the iPods, so this device should make a nice little portable media player!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

I thought I would start a new 'Post Pick' on my blog. In addition to my 'New Music" and 'Old Music' posts, I thought I would post some of my favorite podcasts. With the addition of an iPod mount in my vehicle and my recent job change, I have been listening to more podcasts than radio as of late. And although this 'pick' is a video podcast, I thought I would point out I actually tend to watch more shows on my PC than on my TV nowadays; thanks to bittorrent. This video podcast is actually pretty new (less than 10 episodes as of this post) and its put out from one of my favorite podcast producing companies called Revision 3.

This podcast is called Tekzilla. It's a tech/gadget show which runs about 30 minutes in length. This podcast features Patrick Norton whom I watched for years on a different podcast called DL.TV. Well, he recently left that show to join the Revision 3 cast of characters and co-hosts it with Jessica Corbin. This podcast is fresh, hip and covers some cool technology gadgets and how-to's that will keep you entertained. (plus its nice to have a podcast thats features a woman for once; most podcasts consist of techno, geek guys such as myself)

Friday, November 2, 2007

My very old, 3rd Generation iPod has been used so much lately, I couldn't stand the short battery life. I couldn't even make it halfway through my workday without charging it during lunch out in the vehicle. So I did some research and bought myself a new battery and replaced it myself! I bought the battery from Newer Technology after doing some price matching online.

The whole replacement process took me about 2 minutes! Sure beats sending it in or paying someone else to do it. With this new battery, my battery life is actually going to be longer than the OEM battery that Apple supplies with it.